Chapter 102: The Third Floor of the Technology Building

“Hoo—.”

A gust of hot wind swept through, seeming to blow away the last traces of moisture hidden in the air between heaven and earth.

The wild ox beast, the wooden horse carriage, and the man dressed entirely in black who leaned against the carriage to shield himself from the sun—behind the carriage, not far off, closely followed a black-clad man about one meter eighty-five tall.

Li Fei had been away from home for a month and a week. Before leaving, he had arranged for several maidservants from the Li household to be sent to Ye Mu’s place to take care of him, instructing the steward to look after Ye Mu whenever possible.

Pulling his hat down further to keep his face from direct sunlight, Li Fei no longer dared to wipe the sweat from his face with his hands.

At first, bothered by the heat and the sweat dripping into his eyes, he had wiped it away. Under the green canopy of the main city, the shade helped, but once he entered the domain of the Wild Sand City, the sun seemed to draw much closer, and the air shifted from humid heat to dry, scorching dryness.

Sweat relentlessly seeped from every pore. The man seated in the carriage, seemingly moved by an uncommon kindness, had given him a set of black clothing and warned Li Fei not to wipe away the sweat. Then, he had thrown Li Fei to the back, leaving him to fend for himself.

Li Fei had not taken it seriously at first, confident in his robust constitution and believing that losing some water wouldn’t be a problem. So he followed behind the carriage, wiping sweat when it blurred his vision.

But he had underestimated the Wild Sand City’s territory.

On the third day after entering the Wild Sand City’s domain, he finally collapsed in the desert. When Li Fei regained consciousness, the black-clad man was silently watching him and coldly said, “This is the only warning. Next time, whether you live or die is none of my concern.”

Li Fei said nothing, sitting on the carriage to rest for a while before trailing behind it again at a slow pace.

Only now did Li Fei begin to understand the man’s words. The Wild Sand City was too hot—water evaporated from his body too quickly. The more he wiped, the more sweat emerged, and without any source of replenishment, he would eventually perish from dehydration on the road to the Wild Sand City.

Before setting out, Li Tao had already told him that whether this trial would be a breakthrough or a downfall depended entirely on his own endurance.

The route chosen by the black-clad man seemed deliberately designed to avoid places where powerful mutated beasts gathered. Along the way, the strongest mutated beast Li Fei encountered was only a beginner-level Yellow Sand Snake.

For a month and a week, except for brief meal breaks of just over ten minutes spent in the carriage, Li Fei had been trudging behind it. At first, the wooden horse carriage moved quickly, and so did Li Fei, fresh from home. Now his pace had slowed, and so had the carriage’s, as if it adjusted its speed to match his limits—yet the carriage’s speed always hovered at the edge of what his body could endure, and he kept pushing himself to that edge.

A blur passed before Li Fei’s eyes as sweat trickled down his forehead into his eyes. This time, he did not wipe it away but blinked to reduce the burning sensation.

Since departure, the once burly man had somehow shrunk—losing weight and height—but still he persisted, steadfastly pursuing his goal.

——————————————————

“Ye Bai, are you ready to join that guild?” The smart brain chimed, and Ye Bai saw the message from the Medicine Spirit.

“I’m not sure. I just went to the Qingmu Guild to check it out and met Shi Tai, the deputy minister of the second department. He seemed quite enthusiastic, but there were too few people inside the guild hall.”

Ye Bai didn’t know much about the three guilds yet and was hesitant to choose one. In fact, he was waiting for a chance to join the assassination group, where the truly strong gathered.

“There’s a tech building open class tomorrow. Are you going? Xiao Seng and I plan to go,” the Medicine Spirit messaged again.

‘Open class?’

Ye Bai thought for a moment. These optional open classes usually had low attendance, but during this first month after the opening ceremony, although no assessments were required, attending open classes introduced newcomers to cutting-edge weapons and the current state of the world—it was almost like a cognition course.

“I’ll see. When you come to get Xiao Seng tomorrow, don’t worry about me. If I want to go, I’ll go on my own.”

Ye Bai replied, and the smart brain went silent.

The next morning, Ye Bai still thought to visit the library to read about the guilds. Unexpectedly, when he entered the reading hall, the person he saw sitting in the same spot as yesterday was the same.

Taking up his book, Ye Bai sat opposite the girl. She looked up, smiled at him, then resumed reading.

‘From wood, water, fire, earth, we know that water nurtures wood, wood feeds fire, fire creates earth. When two mutually nurturing elements reach the same frequency, preliminary fusion occurs. If water nurtures, wood dominates—signifying endless life, used for battle recovery and entrapment. If wood nurtures, fire dominates—meaning conflict and offense…’

The books in Ye Bai’s hands on elemental forces constantly made him ponder the problems he usually encountered with these powers, hoping to find answers within their pages.

Mo Li glanced at the book and seemed to recall something. She slowly raised her head, her hair shimmering golden in the morning light, her eyes as clear and alluring as ever. Her fair cheeks were flawless, and her elegant profile, with a slightly curved nose, seemed capable of enchanting souls. Her pink lips looked even rosier in the dawn.

Looking at Ye Bai across from her, Mo Li suddenly remembered what her grandmother had once told her about fate.

Grandmother had said fate was like three different-colored threads: white for acquaintanceship, blue for understanding, and pink for love. Moving from acquaintance to understanding to love was like weaving these three threads into a bracelet.

You never see the pink thread on the outside because love isn’t something spoken—it’s the core thread of the bracelet, written by the heart.

The white and blue threads act as love’s protective umbrella—not as splendid as purple, nor as majestic as yellow—plain and subtle, yet these two unassuming colors embrace everything between the two people and allow the pink thread to endure.

“The open class cognition course is about to start soon. Do you want to go?”

Strangely, Mo Li didn’t know why she asked this. This was only their third meeting, and they barely knew each other—barely even grasped the white thread of acquaintanceship.

Unlike Bai Wan’er’s aloofness, Ling’er’s spiritual aura, or Xiao Mo’s blend of gentleness and strength, Mo Li’s voice carried its own charm. Every smile, frown, and word possessed a unique allure that surpassed the others.

“Me?” Ye Bai was surprised by Mo Li’s invitation. To him, they were mere passing strangers destined to forget each other in the rivers and lakes. Perhaps they would never meet again after today. His instinct was to refuse. He had never personally felt the power of a femme fatale but had read about it. Yet when he looked into Mo Li’s clear, innocent, and slightly enchanting eyes, he found he could not say no.

“I want to go. I originally planned to read guild books in the library, but I’ll attend the open class instead,” Ye Bai lied to conceal his restless heart—after all, a fledgling bird is easily tempted.

After that, Ye Bai couldn’t settle. Although he held a book, he barely absorbed its contents. He silently scolded himself for his weak will. How could he be so easily stirred by a girl he had met only thrice and spoken with twice? Bai Wan’er, Ling’er, and Mo Li were all beauties of the same caliber, yet none had affected him like this.

If Mo Li knew his thoughts, she would surely smile and say it was normal. She herself never understood why men’s affection for her grew so quickly. It had nothing to do with love—it was as if she was the sweetest bite of honey.

Time slipped away as Ye Bai daydreamed, and soon it was nine o’clock—the tech institute’s open class was about to begin.

Mo Li had clearly set the time in advance. As the clock struck nine, she rose, pushed her chair under the table, and returned the book to the shelf.

Ye Bai followed suit, putting down his book and walking with Mo Li toward the tech building.

The first floor of the tech building was still the same as before, filled with various flora and fauna, mutated beast specimens, and researchers in white coats bustling about.

The second floor was the smallest, divided into two parts: one housed the basic Arya No.1 combat suits worn during their initial entrance exams, while the other served as a storage room for abundant resources and research materials.

The Medicine Spirit was pulling Cao Xiao Seng along as the group ascended floor by floor.

All the students attending the open class followed an elderly researcher with one arm missing and one blind eye.

On the first floor, the old man intermittently introduced the newcomers to the weaknesses and habits of mutated beasts.

The open class was an annual event at the academy, open to students from freshmen to seniors. However, apart from freshmen, few older students attended, and many freshmen skipped it, thinking it a waste of time.

“Teacher, what’s that?” a first-year student asked one of the researchers.

The Medicine Spirit, at the back with Cao Xiao Seng, noticed where the student pointed and whispered to him, “That’s a Swift Beetle. It’s incredibly fast, with wings beneath its carapace, covered in dark exoskeleton nearly black. It can withstand a full-strength strike from a body-trained human. Most importantly, its black claws are medicinal and, combined with fire crystal stones, can temper the body and strengthen bone density.”

Cao Xiao Seng nodded, unsure if he fully understood, while the Medicine Spirit, delighted as if tasting honey, eagerly absorbed every detail about recognizing medicinal herbs and mutated beasts capable of medicinal use. The Swift Beetle was one such creature.

The white-coated researcher gave a similar explanation, though without mentioning the medicinal value of the beetle’s claws.

After the lecture, the group was led directly to the third floor.

At that moment, Ye Bai and Mo Li had just stepped into the tech building.